One of the ongoing themes of this blog is that we have been underestimating Climate Change for years, and because of this it is much worse than we realize and changes we have been forecasting for the distant future will be upon us much quicker than expected. This time the underestimation is because we failed to anticipate there would be fewer bright, low clouds, thus allowing the Earths surface to absorb more sunlight,
The term describing this is called “albedo” and refers to the ability of the Earth's surface to reflect the sun’s energy back into space.
A recently published report , utilizing satellite and reanalysis data, identified a record-low planetary albedo as the primary factor behind temperature rises. Saying
In 2023, the global mean temperature soared to almost 1.5K above the pre-industrial level, surpassing the previous record by about 0.17K. Previous best-guess estimates of known drivers including anthropogenic warming and the El Niño onset fall short by about 0.2K in explaining the temperature rise.
Some of the other reasons we have been underestimating climate change is because, we have not done as much as we hoped to reduce carbon emissions, a failure to recognize feedback loops that create a synergy by making hot hotter and even more hotter.... You can access previous posts at, http://motherearthprayers.blogspot.com/search/label/Underestimating%20Climate%20Change
Below is a link to a video on the albedo affect.
